


Enthusiasm

by Nerdoftheworld



Series: Stucky Shot Party [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Corpse Bride!AU, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Mutual Pining, Not Really Character Death, Piano, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:41:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdoftheworld/pseuds/Nerdoftheworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve messed up and the only way to make it up is with music</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enthusiasm

**Author's Note:**

> I really really really love the Corpse Bride and I really really really tried 
> 
> Warning: There is mention of a detached hand, though it's not graphic and if you saw the movie then you probably remember
> 
> Enjoy

Admittedly, Steve screwed up. 

 

He knows he did. He used Bucky to go back to the surface with false pretenses just so he can so see Peggy in her family’s home, and then told Bucky exactly how he felt about him when the male started to confront him. Like Erskine pointed out, Bucky did have a point; he was married to Bucky and that made Peggy the other woman, but it was an honest to God mistake! All Steve was trying to do was practice for his wedding when he said those vows, he didn’t mean to put the ring on Bucky’s finger. 

 

He didn’t mean to marry a dead person. 

 

He thought everything was going to work out if he just got to talk to Peggy and ask for help, to tell her that he was going to come back to her and that he was still alive. Could he really be blamed? Could he really be the bad guy for wanting to be married to the woman he loved? And yes, when they arrived at the surface Bucky did leave him breathless … staring up at the moon with wide blue eyes that looked so alive for someone who’s been dead for years … moving around as the moonlight made his ashen skin look vibrant …. a smile spreading on his face when he circled around Steve gracefully … how ecstatic he was just to meet Steve’s parents and tell him that they were married. Just from how ever since Steve has met him, all Bucky has done is smile and treat him like the perfect husband would to their spouse. 

 

If the skeleton in the bar was right, then that means that Bucky has gone through some real bad shit when he was alive and probably never got to have something he must’ve really wanted. Now Steve is the one taking it away from him. 

 

Steve follows Cap, the dog running in front of him while his bones patter against the pavement as he whines softly with Bucky’s bouquet in his mouth. The pup stops just at the arch of a building where the sounds of the deep notes on a piano filter through when Cap drops the bouquet on the floor and wags his tail softly. Even the dog knew he fucked up with Bucky. Intaking quietly, Steve bends down to pick up the flowers. Crusty and dead, but Steve can tell that they must’ve been absolutely gorgeous when they were fresh and although they had darkened with age, he can practically see them in their prime. 

 

When he walks into the building, Steve realizes that it’s the bar that he woke up it when he got dragged down by Bucky after he passed out from fear by the display the taller man had created, yet there was Bucky. Pale, dead, sad Bucky sitting on the stool in front of a piano with perfect posture while his decomposed left arm trickles along a few of the deeper keys that look so smooth as if he’s constantly been playing those notes for years. Probably has. His once pure white suit is worn out and covered in ghastly stains; his jacket is off and displays the left sleeve of his shirt completely cut up, his right knee has a hole that shows the bone that lies hidden under the clothing, and his vest with the light gray paisley is covered in scratches. The skin near his his hairline looks like putty, obviously a piece of skin that’s on it’s way out. 

But by God, did Bucky look absolutely horrible when miserable. He’s still gorgeous, but just the thought of hurting this man in front of him is enough to make him want to puke. He breathes in, and marches towards him with the flowers. 

 

“I … think you dropped this,” Steve says with a defeated tone, a hint of a smile on his lips. Bucky ignores him, eyes trained on the ivory keys under his fingers. Steve sighs, setting the flowers on top of the piano. “I’m sorry,” he starts, watching as Bucky looks away with a furrow of his brow. “I’m sorry I lied to you … about wanting to see my parents,” he sits down at the end of the stool, staring down at his hands that seem to still be wet from the rain. “It's just this whole day … hasn't gone quite, well…” Steve rubs his neck, chuckling bitterly as the voice of his parents echo in his mind. “According to plan …” 

 

Bucky doesn’t say a word. His hand still lazily plays the notes with his eyes closed, soaking up the music like he did under the moonlight before. Steve raises his left hand and plays a few notes at the other end of the piano before Bucky whips his head to stare at Steve in annoyance. His cheeks have drying tear tracks and he looks positively pissed when he narrows his eyes and stop playing. The smaller man swallows thickly, bringing his hand to rest in his lap. Bucky turns back and continues the few notes with the deeper keys. Steve watches from the corner of his eye, smiling softly when the tension in Bucky’s shoulders lessen and brings both of his hands back to the keys in front of him. 

 

He plays more notes to test the waters, looking at Bucky the entire time while the other male sits with hate filled eyes a foot away. Steve remembers this song from a while ago, when he attended high school with a bunch of other kids and this song always use to play from the music room where the older kids use to practice. A sweet melody, enchanting and whimsical from what he can remember. Bucky puts his other hand on the piano, closing his eyes gently while they flutter just the tiniest bit and plays softer notes - notes that hit Steve in the chest from how depressing and morbid they sound. He finishes when he leans his elbow against the end of the row, his flesh hand cradling his cheek when he turns his back to Steve as if saying ‘I’m still so angry at you’. 

 

Steve can’t help but smile a little more, ducking his head while he moves faster along the the keys to the point where he’s not even thinking as he plays; fingers leaping from one to the other just as he leans closer to Bucky while his hands stay still at the end of a longer piece of the song. He plays a few more notes at the same pace, full on grinning when he reaches the end note before pausing again. Bucky still hasn’t turned and that’s okay, because Steve just needs Bucky to listen right now. Listen to the song that he remembers the older man playing one sunny afternoon in school as the sunlight showered upon him like an angel who had no idea he’d be taken so early and so violently, the same man who smiles with his whole body and is so entranced in his own playing that he doesn’t even look human enough because nothing that gorgeous, that colorful, can be entirely human. 

 

He continues playing the faster potion with the high notes, his smile growing bigger when he sees a pale hand and bones starting to play along with him now. Without even turning his head, he can see Bucky’s cocky smirk and challenging eyes staring at him while he plays way faster than Steve while the blonde man pretends not to notice only to give up and turn his whole head just to see the spectacular display of smugness and beauty. 

 

The brunette's expression softens, watching Steve through long lashes while he plays with gusto a piece that Steve now can only know that Bucky made. And it’s beautiful. God, Steve can stay here forever playing with Bucky next to him and listen to the music vibrate through his own body, hopefully also into his just so Bucky can remember what it’s like to have a heartbeat. The music of his own body. Hearing the thumping of his own core when everything is too quiet, the rhythm of every exhale joining the great wonderful peace that is the world around him. 

 

But Bucky can’t have that anymore. He can’t have a heart that beats alongside his own when they curl up at night after a long and happy day together. He can’t press their child’s ear against his ribcage and watch as their beautiful miracle softly flutters off to sleep with something better than any sound in the entire universe because it’s Bucky’s. He can’t walk down the aisle and see someone he loves waiting for him at the end, someone to take his hand and never let go no matter how hard the world crumbles before them. No one to promise to lift his sorrows, or to promise a full cup as they are his wine, or to guide his way through darkness, or ask him to be theirs. 

 

No one except Steve. 

 

The sound of high pitch notes that he doesn’t remember being in the song breaks him from his thoughts, hearing Bucky gasp softly as his left hand detaches and move along the ivory. It should scare him, yes, but he smiles as it skips up his arm lightly to come to rest on his shoulder. Bucky laughs nervously, watching the hand move along Steve’s arms until the thin man scoops it up as if holding it. He chuckles back, staring at the golden band around the bony ring finger that stands out on the cracking bone. 

 

“Pardon my enthusiasm,” Bucky says, lifting up his left arm when Steve takes it gently in his hand. He jams the bone back in, pulling away with one hand to make sure it stays there. 

 

“I like your enthusiasm,” Steve smiles, kissing the back of Bucky’s hand. 

 

He loves Peggy, no doubt about that. But he’s really only gotten to know a little bit of her, only that she dreams of a wedding and love. With Bucky, he knows more about him in the two days they’ve been together; that he likes to go on long winded babbles when he’s really excited, or that he is so sweet that everyone in down adores him like a son, or that when he gets nervous he likes to bite his bottom lip until he calms down, or that he isn’t self-conscious about his body falling apart at the seams as long as someone is there with him, or that he’d do anything to be the perfect husband to Steve. His stomach bottoms out as he comes to a sudden realization then and there, holding Bucky’s bone hand with a ring shining in the colored lights of the bar, that he really is starting to like Bucky. 

 

And he vows to be with him ‘till the end of the line. 


End file.
